Artificial sweeteners, such as sucralose and aspartame, sometimes known as high-intensity sweeteners or sugar substitute are potent sugar replacements that are nonnutritive, and noncaloric. They taste sweet, but contain fewer calories than sugar. They prevent tooth decay and lower the level of sugar in the blood. In fact, a study in 2003 involving 128 people with type 2 diabetes revealed that a daily dose of sucralose three times more than the recommended daily intake lacked effect on the blood sugar level of the subjects. 

For these reasons, there has been an increased in demand in recent years for artificial sweeteners. Many food products marketed as sugar-free or diet include artificial sweeteners. That covers sweets, sodas, energy drinks, and baked goods. Some artificial sweeteners are additionally offered separately in packets or other packaging. 

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have approved the use of sucralose (1998) and aspartame (1981) in food.

Let’s discuss both further.

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WHAT IS SUCRALOSE?

Sucralose is a noncaloric trichloro derivative of sucrose [three hydroxyl (hydrogen–oxygen), along with maltodextrin, in which three chlorine atoms are selectively substituted for the sucrose groups on a sugar molecule. This gives sucralose bulk and makes it measurable cup for cup, like table sugar. Sucrose is the only artificial sweetener made from sugar. Sucralose is also known under the brand name Splenda®. It is classified as a food additive with the E number E955.

Sucralose is 600 times sweeter than sucrose or sugar. It does not have any bitterness or other unpleasant aftertastes and has a sweetness time-intensity profile similar to sucrose.

Sucralose has been an approved sweetener in food since 1998 for 15 specific food and beverage categories. It has a high level of crystallinity, high water solubility, and excellent stability at high temperatures. Its heat stability makes it ideal as a sugar substitute in baking. It is also quite stable at the pH of carbonated soft drinks, and normal handling and storage of these goods only slightly hydrolyzes it into monosaccharide units.

Numerous studies have been done on the safety of sucralose, and they generally show that the substance is safe at the levels of expected usage. Sucralose’s approval has, however, drawn criticism for being premature because it contains structural elements of potentially dangerous compounds, particularly when exposed to thermally degradative conditions. And their safety at certain temperatures require more study. For this reason, the European Union has banned the use of artificial sweeteners in commercial baked products in 2018.

Sucralose is calorie free. But it typically contains filler, maltodextrin or dextrose. These fillers or bulking agents add a few calories to it—around 3 calories for every gram. The allowable daily intake (ADI) for sucrose in the US is 5 mg/kg body weight per day.

WHAT IS ASPARTAME?

The need for sweetening ingredient to reduce the calorie content of food and beverages led to the development of peptide sweeteners. Though the digestive processes make the peptide sweeteners’ constituent amino acids calorie-available, their extreme sweetness enables functionality to be attained at very low levels that supply negligible calories.

One example of a peptide sweetener is aspartame. Aspartame is a synthetic dipeptide created by reacting aspartic acid and phenylalanine. In the market, aspartame is sold as a tabletop sweetener under the brand names Equal and Nutrasweet. It is classified as a food additive with the E number E951.

Just like sucralose, aspartame is sweeter (about 200 times) than sucrose, but is less sweet than sucralose. It also contains filler ingredients, usually maltodextrin or dextrose, to lessen its strong sweetness.

Although aspartame was not originally designed to be used in heated products, it can be encapsulated in hydrogenated cottonseed oil with a time-temperature release, making its inclusion in baked goods permissible.

Aspartame is a nutritive sweetener with the same calorie count per gram as sugar (4 calories per gram). However, because it is significantly sweeter and used in small quantities, it is not a substantial source of calories or carbohydrates, and is frequently classified as a nonnutritive, noncaloric sweetener.

Despite lacking some of sweetness qualities of sucrose, it is noted for having a clean, sweet taste. It is important to note the instability of aspartame under acid conditions and its rapid degradation at elevated temperatures. Temperature and pH affect the rate of sweetness loss in acidic environments, such as carbonated soft drinks.

Following rigorous safety reviews, aspartame has been approved for use in foods and as a tabletop sweetener in several nations for almost 30 years. In the US, It gained approval from the FDA for use in foods in 1981.

The post Sucralose Vs Aspartame: The Difference appeared first on The Food Untold.

This has happened to everyone of us: opening a container only to find brown sugar that has hardened. This is annoying because this may occur even if the sugar is stored in an airtight container. Brown sugar that is hard as rock is still safe to consume. But how are you going to use it in that state? There is no way you can measure it accurately. You have to soften hard brown sugar first, right? Fortunately, there are several ways to soften it. But before that let’s take a look at how brown sugar hardens.

Sugar used as a sweetener usually come in two forms: white and brown sugar. These two sugars go through similar manufacturing process. However, white sugar undergoes a further process. In this extra step, the sugar is refined to remove molasses.

Molasses is a viscous brown syrup naturally found in sugar beets and sugar cane. Varying adjustments or settings during refining produce different varieties of sugar. Molasses can be produced by heating syrup of crushed sugarcane or sugar beets.

Doing away with purification produces brown sugar. Common varieties of brown sugar such as light brown sugar, dark brown sugar, and Muscovado. The more molasses that there is, the darker the sugar. Light brown sugar contains 3.5% molasses, whereas dark brown sugar contains around 6.5% molasses. Some sugar may even contain up to 10% molasses. But molasses more than just adding color. It also gives caramel or toffee-like flavor to baked goods, especially cookies and cakes.

Another distinct characteristic of brown sugar is its soft and moisture texture. This is due to the hygroscopic nature of molasses; it attracts water even more quickly than sucrose and gives baked goods a moisture and chewiness that cannot be matched by granulated sugar.

WHY BROWN SUGAR HARDENS?

Yes, molasses can attract water, but it can also lose it rather quickly, especially when brown sugar is exposed to air for too long. When molasses lost most of its moisture, it dries out. This will end up in brown sugar that hardens because the sugar crystals stick together. This is why it is highly recommended to keep brown sugar in an airtight container. Another way to keep it moist is putting it inside the freezer to keep the moisture from escaping.

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But what if you did not do either? No worries, though. Do not throw that solid brown sugar just yet. Here are some things that you can do to soften hard brown sugar.

PUTTING BACK MOISTURE IN

So the problem with hard brown sugar is the lost moisture. One method that works really well is placing a piece of bread together with the brown sugar in an airtight container. The sugar should be soft and moist while the bread becomes hard after 24 hours. after 24 hours.

What happens exactly here is moisture migration from bread to sugar. To better explain this, a little science should help. The so-called Water activity (a_w) according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) refers to the ratio between the vapor pressure of the food itself, when in a totally undisturbed balance with the surrounding air media, and the vapor pressure of distilled water under the same conditions. When water has an activity of 0.80, its vapor pressure is 80% that of pure water.

In the case of bread and brown sugar, there is moisture migration because moisture tends to move from an area of high water activity (bread) to an area of lower activity (brown sugar) until equilibrium is achieved.

If you do not have a piece of bread, other moist foods can also be used as a substitute. Others have tried to soften brown sugar with apples or marshmallows. This trick is helpful if are not in a hurry as it takes a day or two to totally soften brown sugar.

But if you are, use a microwave oven to make it soft again in a few minutes. Simply place the hardened brown sugar in a small bowl. And then cover it with a moist paper towel. After each 20-second interval in the microwave, stir the sugar with a fork to bring it back to its soft texture.

The post How To Soften Hard Brown Sugar? appeared first on The Food Untold.

Invert sugar is a property of sugar formed by sucrose hydrolysis. In chemistry, hydrolysis is a process wherein one molecule of water breaks down one or more chemical bonds. In the case of sucrose hydrolysis, the action of an acid or enzyme hydrolyzes or breaks down the glycosidic bond that connects glucose and fructose as sucrose. This yields equal amounts of glucose and fructose. This process is also called inversion. And the mixture of unbroken sucrose, fructose, and glucose is invert sugar or invert syrup. Inverted sugar is valued because not only it adds sweetness in food, it also has several functional benefits.

By percentage, invert sugars are 75% glucose and fructose, and 25% sucrose. Glucose that forms from inversion is less sweet than sucrose, and fructose is more sweet.

Inverted sugar is so-called because of its light-reflective properties. In food manufacturing, one device that measures % soluble sugar is a refractometer. It works using the principle of light refraction. Light slows down as it travels from air to liquid. So if light travels through a sample that contains dissolved solids (usually sugar), the light is bent or refracted. This is what gives a pencil a “bent” appearance when submerged in water. And the change of direction of the light is called refraction.

So as to why invert sugar is so-called is because its optical rotation is opposite to that of table sugar. Sucrose has a specific optical rotation of +66.5°. The hydrolysis of the glycosidic bond produces a mixture of glucose and fructose, which has a special optical rotation of -33.3°.

HOW INVERT SUGAR IS PRODUCED

Making inverted sugar is relatively easy. By heating plain sucrose and boiling it in a solution with cream of tartar or citric acid (lemon), the sugar is broken into glucose and fructose. The amount of invert sugar through acid hydrolysis depends on two factors: the amount of acid and the rate and length of heating. Too much use of acid, cream of tartar, for example, may result in excessive hydrolysis. This will produce a runny or soft sugar product. The rate and length of heating also affect inversion. Ideally, inversion should be slow and long length of heating. A rapid rate will only provide less inversion opportunity.

Further read: Food Science: The Roles of Sugar In Food

Enzyme hydrolysis can also break the dissacharide bond to produce inverted sugar. Although this method is long as the process may take several days to finish. Usually, enzyme hydrolysis is mainly achieved using invertase (also called sucrase) enzyme. Commercially available invertase is derived usually from yeast. Although plants and vegetables produce this enzyme as well to increase the availability of glucose, and fructose to make the fruit sweeter. Invertase comes in the form of powder or liquid. Its ability to break down sucrose has uses in producing candy liquid centers, fondant candies, and chocolate-covered cherries.

Now that we have defined invert sugar and how it is made, let’s talk about what it has to do with the properties of sugar.

FUNCTIONS OF INVERTED SUGAR IN FOOD

If there is regular table sugar or sucrose, why would food manufacturers use invert sugar then? Sure, table sugar comes in granules, while invert sugar comes in liquid. But it is more than that. Aside from increased sweetness, invert sugar also helps limit crystal formation, and retain moisture.

Let’s discuss further.

Sweetening products

Sucrose sweetens foods. But inverted sugar is sweeter than sucrose. When disacharide (sucrose) undergoes inversion, it yields glucose and fructose. The presence of free fructose gives invert sugar a much sweeter taste. In fact, fructose is the sweetest natural sugar. Fructose is 1.2 to 1.8 times as sweet as sucrose. For this reason, invert sugar is widely used in baking, confectionery, and pastries.

Sucrose inversion is particularly important in making jams and preserves. Making jam involves boiling added sugar and fruits together for a certain period. During boiling, two requirements are already present for sugar hydrolysis to commence: heat and acid from the fruit. These lead to inversion of half of added sucrose to glucose and fructose. The result is the increase in sugar molecules by 50%, giving a modest increase in sweetness. Furthermore, since invert sugar is more soluble in water, crystal formation is repressed. And because of this, it is easier to attain high sugar levels in jam to make it shelf life stable.

Limiting crystal formation

In many formulations, invert sugar is combined with untreated sucrose in a 1:1 ratio to control crystal formation. Here’s how invert sugar prevents crystal formation.

Invert sugar is composed of fructose, but in the form of glucose and fructose. The mixture of these sugars prevents them from crystallizing easily. In a crystal lattice, the form of the disaccharide (sucrose) and monosaccharides (glucose and fructose) do not fit together well. The result is the disaccharides staying in a viscous, syrupy state, rather than forming a crystalline solid.

Knowing how this works is specifically important for recipes of non-crystalline candies. In making sugar syrup, sugar crystals are avoided because they can crystallize the rest. In some recipes, acid sources (such as vinegar and, lemon), or sugar, such as corn syrup and glucose is added to interfere crystal formation during boiling.

Honey contains mostly glucose and fructose. Similar to inverted syrup, it can remain liquid for a long time. It also works to slow the crystalline formation. However, because of its fructose content, it readily caramelizes, which, at times, results in undesirable browning in certain preparations. If one wishes to prevent crystal formation and caramelization at the same time, acid-inverted syrups are better because of their acidity.

Many cooks favor corn syrup over sucrose because it does not caramelize readily. The varied long glucose chains in maize syrup make a tangled mess that physically obstructs the movement of both sugar and water molecules. This makes it harder for sucrose to find another crystal that it can fit onto.

Retaining moisture

Invert sugar is more hygroscopic than sucrose. Hygroscopic refers to substances that are able to pick up moisture from the air. Invert sugar is more able to do this because of the additional water molecules that can interact with two molecules of sugar (glucose and fructose) relative to one molecule of sucrose.

In general, sweeteners that are high in fructose are more hygroscopic than sucrose. These include invert sugar, molasses, and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), This is the reason why brown sugar cookies are chewy—the invert sugar it contains attracts and retains moisture even after baking.

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Often times, invert sugar is used together with another sweetener to achieve a certain level of sweetness while retaining other qualities. Like for example, brown sugar cookie may be chewy. But brown sugar (with invert sugar) alone will not produce a chewy sugar cookie with a glossy crystalline top. To achieve both, a combination of brown and white sugar is necessary.

References:

V. Vaclavik, E. Christian (2014). Essentials of Food Science (4th edition). Springer.

S. Damodaran, K. Parkin (2017. Fennema’s Food Chemistry (5th edition). CRC Press.

M. Wallert, K. Colabroy, B. Kelly, J. Provost (2016). The Science of Cooking: Understanding The Biology And Chemistry Behind Food And Cooking. John Wiley & Sons, Inc..

M. Gibson (2018). Food Science And The Culinary Arts. Academic Press.

The post Inverted Sugar: What Is It In Food? appeared first on The Food Untold.

When we talk about sugar, we usually refer to table sugar. Generally, sugars refer to the group of sweet-tasting carbohydrates. Granulated table sugar is the most common form. It is the disaccharide sucrose, which is made up of glucose and fructose. To many, these carbohydrates are only added to food to add sweetness or flavor.

But if we take a closer look, sugar is more than that. Because of its properties, sugar can be used in trace amounts or as a primary ingredient to achieve a certain goal. Let’s take sugar to pizza dough for example. Sugar is not truly an essential ingredient in pizza dough. It is true that it adds sweetness to the dough, but it is only a secondary benefit. Truth is sugar is only added to help brown the crust of the pizza dough. This is especially the case if the oven is not capable of achieving this. Helping to produce browning, which is desirable in some foods, is just one of the several roles of sugar in food. Let’s discuss them further.

(This article does include artificial sweeteners because they do not possess functional properties such as browning, fermenting, and tenderizing.)

ADDING SWEETNESS

Baked goods, sodas, fruit juices, candies, pies, and pastries. Would these foods be enjoyed by many without sugar? In many processed foods, the added sugar makes them more appealing to consumers.

All sugars are sweet. Sugars owe this property to the OH (hydroxyl) groups with a particular pattern of bond. These can interact with the taste receptor for sweetness in our taste bud. The length and strength of the bonds determine the sweetness level of the sugar. This is the reason why sugars with tighter and stronger bonds are sweeter.

TENDERNESS TO BAKED GOODS

Have you ever tried working on a dough/batter without sugar? Sugar has multiple functions in baking. And one of them is adding tenderness to the batter or dough formula. Without sugar, gluten forms. Sure, gluten helps the baked good hold its shape and traps air released by leavening agents. However, too much gluten will make you work harder as it removes extensibility of dough.

The result of this is a bread that is less tender, tough, and a has lower volume. But sugar prevents this from occurring by binding with proteins gliadin and glutenin. Sugar also absorbs water in the process, and thus there is less water for gluten formation.

PROMOTING BROWNING

There are generally two types of browning that occur in food: enzymatic and non-enzymatic browning. Enzymatic browning is undesirable because it lowers the quality of the food and causes food waste. Non-enzymatic browning, on the other hand, is deliberately achieved to make food more appealing.

Non-enzymatic browning have two types: the Maillard reaction and caramellization, both of which require the presence of sugar to occur.

In the Maillard reaction, the reaction between the carbonyl group of a reducing sugar with the amine group of an amino acid produces browning. This occurs in baked goods, pie crusts, meats such as seared steaks, and toasted marshmallows. The Maillard reaction is more noticeable at a temperature of 284ºF (140ºC). In the later part of the reaction, brown, low molecular weight pigments called melanoidins form.

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While the Maillard reaction occurs as a result of reaction between proteins and sugars, caramelization is the pyrolysis of sugars. It occurs at a higher temperature of 248 °F (120 °C) to 356 °F (180 °C). Polymers are responsible for the browning, as well as the viscosity and stickiness during caramelization. These polymers include caramelans (C₂₄H₃₆O₁₈), caramelins (C₁₂₅H₁₈₈O₈₀), and caramelens (C₃₆H₅₀O₂₅).

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EXTENDING SHELF LIFE

It is true that honey almost never expires. The main reason for this is its composition. Honey is a supersaturated sugar solution. The water molecules it contains are hydrogen-bonded to the highly concentrated sugar molecules. Because of this, the water activity of honey is very low.

What does it mean?

Water activity refers to the water molecules that are available to support the growth of microorganisms. Pure water has a water activity of 1.0. Fresh vegetables and meats have a water activity of 0.90 or higher. That is why they are highly perishable. Honey only has a water activity of 0.60. A water activity this low prevents microorganisms, even high osmotic pressure-resistant ones, to thrive and spoil the honey.

Preservation by using solutes (osmotic dehydration) such as salt and sugar is widely practiced around the world. It helps to extend the shelf life of foods such as jams, jellies, and pickles.

Water activity in relation to food safety is discussed in more detail here: Water Activity (aw) And Food Safety

PRODUCTION OF FERMENTED FOOD

In order to make bread rise, a leavening agent such as baking soda or baking powder. Leavening may also be a result of fermentation using yeast or bacteria. Sugar is a basic substrate in food fermentation.

During fermentation, the microorganism consumes the sugar in the dough. In return, carbon dioxide, acids, alcohols, and other compounds are released. Carbon dioxide is what causes the bread to rise or leaven.

Although bread can be produced without sugar, it will take a little longer for the bread to rise.

Sugar is also necessary for fermented drinks. In brewing, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast is responsible for making Ale beers. The disaccharide maltose makes up most of the sugar in beers. The yeast consumes and converts the sugar into carbon dioxide and alcohol. In home brewing, sugar is added to make stronger beers.

Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast is also used to produce wine. Grapes are high in sugar content. Ripe ones contain an equal amount of glucose and fructose, both of which are fermentable sugars. Similar to beers, yeast converts the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide during wine fermentation. Once the alcohol content has reached the level high enough to kill the yeast, the remaining sugar becomes the residual sugar content of the wine.

WATER RETENTION

Sugars are hygroscopic. This means they are able to attract and hold moisture or water. In the food manufacturing industry, hygroscopic substances are a staple because not only are they able to prevent food from drying out, they also contribute to the finished product’s texture and viscosity, reduce its water activity, and control crystallization.

For the purpose of preventing food from drying out, brown sugar is a better choice than sucrose.

Brown sugar is brown because it contains molasses, a product of heating syrup of crushed sugar beets or sugar cane. It attracts water more readily than sucrose. So it won’t be surprising if you find brown sugar that starts to clump together if in storage for a long time.

Invert sugar, which brown sugar naturally contains, is also more hygroscopic than sucrose. This is because of the additional water molecules that can interact with two sugar molecules (fructose and glucose) relative to one (sucrose). It is a good ingredient to retain moisture and maintain chewiness in baked goods. The downside of this is that you do not get that glossy, crystalline top of the cookie since invert sugar does not crystallize. For that chewy treat with a glossy top, recipes may include the combination of brown and white sugar.

References:

M. Wallert, K. Colabroy, B. Kelly, J. Provost (2016). The Science of Cooking: Understanding the Biology and Chemistry Behind Food and Cooking. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

V. Vaclavik and E. Christian (2014). Essentials of Food Science (4th edition). Springer

deMan, J. Finley, W. Jeffrey Hurst, Chang Yong Lee (2018). Principles of Food Chemistry (4th edition). Springer.

The post Food Science: The Roles of Sugar In Food appeared first on The Food Untold.